A newfound responsibility

By Rita, Alameda County Juvenile Hall
The Beat Within/NAM

It was bad enough that I am locked up in juvenile hall, but I thought everything was going well until one day I was called to go to the nurse. When I went to meet with the nurse, I was told that I was pregnant. I thought, “What am I going to do now?”

I always told myself that if I ever got pregnant, I would not get an abortion. But this is a really tough decision for me, because I just barely turned 17 and I haven’t finished high school yet.

The worst part about it is I will be locked up during my whole pregnancy. That’s horrible.

Yonkers Gang Intervention Strategy

By Globe Staff

The Yonkers, New York Police Department (YPD) created a Gang Intervention Unit I in May of 2001. The unit was formed to combat a rise in gang activity and gang violence.

The YPD Gang Unit was the first such police unit formed in Westchester County. It remains the only fulltime gang unit in the county.

There has been a noticeable decrease in the identification of new gang members since the inception of the gang unit, and information and intelligence gathered by the gang unit has been used to solve numerous homicides, assaults and other crimes, both gang and non-gang related.

Ballot measure takes wrong approach

By David Muhammad

Nov. 4 may prove to be the biggest election in United States history. Voter turnout is likely to be the largest ever. But in addition to choosing the next American president, California voters will also decide on several ballot measures, including Proposition 6.

Prop. 6 is a ballot initiative sponsored by Republican state Senator George Runner and funded by billionaire Henry Nicholas. Depicted by proponents as the Safe Neighborhoods Act, the proposition will divert billions from schools, health care and firefighters to fund surveillance and increased incarceration.

The initiative will cost California taxpayers $1 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010, $500 million in the subsequent year and more each year thereafter for prisons, jails and law enforcement costs. Prop. 6 would require spending at least a half a billion dollars on new prison construction at a time when California spends four times as much per prisoner than per public school student.

Missing my mother’s chicken noodle soup

By Fred, San Francisco Juvenile Hall
The Beat Within/NAM

I really miss and need my mom and her chicken noodle soup. When I was out, I didn’t have the right appreciation for my mom, and I hardly came home. Now that I’m locked up, I miss my mom and need her.

Right before I was locked up, three guys jumped me, knocked me down, kicked me, broke my jaw and almost killed me. My jaw is hurting me, and I have told the staff here to let me have some soft food because I can’t chew, but I’m very hungry. My jaw is still messed up.

These guys kicked me in my face until I almost died. They tried to kill me. I was lucky an ambulance came fast. When I woke up, I was in the ambulance. Then I fell back to sleep. My jaw is broken, cracked to my chin. The whole corner of my jaw was hanging down to my cheek, almost off. My mouth was all open. I couldn’t even close it.

Experiential teacher pay for performance programs

By Globe Staff

One of the greatest challenges facing young people and especially those most at risk of engaging in violent behavior is the substandard quality of education they receive from their schools. And one of the major obstacles to improving education is the extremely low wages teachers earn, causing many highly capable educators to choose other career paths. Then there is also the challenge of how difficult it is to fire bad teachers, who are tenured members of a teachers union.

There is a new innovative proposal in Washington, D.C., and a three-year-old initiative in Denver that seeks to address these challenges. While neither could be considered successful yet, the fresh, innovative ideas are inspiring.

In Washington, D.C., the new, energetic chancellor of the school district, who was specifically hired to reform a devastated school system, has proposed a new program that would compensate effective teachers up to more than $100,000, but also make it easier to dismiss poor performing teachers.

Fighting violence on many fronts

By David Muhammad

I have constantly referred to the problems that produce violence and the potential solutions as complicated and complex. The causes have been developing for decades, and therefore the solutions will not be quick-fix overnight wonders. Though the public and even politicians seem to want immediate relief from violent crime, real longer-term solutions require intense, protracted, long-term remedies.

This is where the need to understand the difference between prevention, intervention and suppression come in. In response to a surge of violence, a town hall meeting or city council meeting may call for action. The response is often “we need more police” or “we need more mentoring programs.” Neither one of these will result in an immediate impact on violence. To add officers to the force, you have to recruit, hire and send cadets through the academy. That’s often a year’s process. And mentoring is violence prevention, but it will rarely if ever net immediate results in crime reduction.

There are two fronts in combating violence that need just as much attention, resources and expertise. These two fronts are often lumped together but require different approaches and understanding. There are the existing circumstances that cause violence now, and then there are persisting conditions that cause individuals to grow up and make poor decisions to engage in violent behavior.

‘Alone’

By Robert, Alameda County Juvenile Hall

Since I’ve been in jail
I feel alone more than ever
I never thought I would get caught
I thought I was too smart
Too clever

Why do I do what I do?
I thought I would never know
Until it finally hit me
The friends have got to go

I feel helpless and alone
Whenver I’m in my cell
While others
Are laughing joyfully
They enjoy being in hell

I miss my family dearly
But my freedom even more
Thinking my family resents me
My heart is ripped and torn

I find my only joy
Throwing my feelings on a page
Instead of lashing out at others
In a devious evil rage

My mother can’t save me here
The government holds the thrown
I’m in a room full of human beings
But I still feel alone — all alone!

Originally published Aug. 6-12, 2008

Rochester’s Pathways to Peace program

By Globe Staff

Pathways to Peace is a street-level outreach team that establishes a rapport with Rochester, New York’s violent youth and gangs, assesses their needs and situation, and then links them to resources to prevent youth and gang violence. Pathways uses both traditional and non-traditional intervention and is deemed necessary for the survival of our youth.

Pathways to Peace was created in 1998 is to reduce youth/gang violence in Rochester by working closely with all available community resources, including schools, families, law enforcement, human service agencies and faith-based organizations to improve overall public safety and quality of life.

Other services of Pathways to Peace include dispute mediation; professional, youth and community training/ education; gang mapping/tracking; and youth violence/gang consultation.

Comprehensive violence prevention can work

By Linda Jucovy and Wendy S. McClanahan

The Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) — a collaboration involving the district attorney’s office, adult and juvenile probation, police, other city agencies and community organizations — began operations in Philadelphia in 1999.

Inspired by the successful “Boston Miracle” and modeled to work in the particular circumstances of Philadelphia, its goal is to steer young people, ages 14 to 24 and at greatest risk of killing or being killed, away from violence and toward productive lives.

To accomplish this, YVRP provides them with a combination of strict supervision and ongoing support. Each participant is assigned to a team that includes a probation officer and a community street worker, who work intensively with the young person to make sure that he (and, less often, she) not only stays out of trouble but starts on a path toward responsible adulthood.

Avoiding prison

By Nick, Alameda County Juvenile Hall
The Beat Within/NAM

Although I am back in juvenile hall, I am going to make sure I avoid going to adult prison. The last time I was here I spent a year here. I completed a life skills class that has helped me, and I have a lot of lost time to make up for.

But the last time I got out, I hadn’t learned my lesson yet. I committed a string of robberies. I also decided to get my hands in the drug game a little bit to make some extra money.

Everything was going good. I was living on my own, paying for rent and food. I had my lady and I was just having the time of my life. But then I got kicked out of my place because the landlord found out I was selling drugs. I was homeless for a while, but I finally found a new place to live.